The Foreign Service Journal, October 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2021 35 Theresa Sabonis-Helf teaches at Georgetown University, where she is the concentration chair for science, technology and international affairs in the master’s degree program at the School of Foreign Service. Her research and policy work address issues of energy security, environment politics, natural resources and political economy, with a focus on the former Soviet Union. A lthough the impact of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement on the prog- ress of combating climate change is rightly the focus of most analysis, and remains to be seen, the structure of the treaty is noteworthy in that it reflects the likely future of treaty-making in a posthegemonic world. The treaty is founded on the diplomatic pillar of a bottom-up approach; the legal pillar of combining hard law (on mandatory transparency) and soft law (on enforcement via nam- ing-and-shaming); and the economic pillar of engaging corporate strategies and consumer preferences, as authors Rafael Leal-Arcas and Antonio Morelli have observed (see Resources, p. 38). The structure of the 2015 accord is unique, and may be a decisive factor in its effectiveness in combating climate change. BY THERESA SABON I S - HE L F Such an approach to multilateralism offers an answer to the question of how to shape internationally important behavior in a world in which power is increasingly dispersed, both among and within states. It resolves key failures in previous attempts at climate treaties. It also serves as a landmark of “polylateral- ism,” the practice of creating new roles for nonstate actors in the implementation of a treaty among sovereigns. The Paris Accord and Its Predecessors The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed in 1992 and adopted in 1994. The UNFCCC Treaty, of which the United States has been a member since ratification, defines the problem of climate change. This treaty established reporting mechanisms, expert panels to review and advance understanding of climate change (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC) and a responsibility to meet regu- larly in Conferences of the Parties (COPs) to establish mecha- nisms to contain climate change. The first major attempt to bring the treaty to life was at COP 3, which took place in 1997 and produced the Kyoto Protocol. It eventually failed in its effort to create an international architec- ture for controlling emissions. Although President Bill Clinton FOCUS ON CLIMATE CHANGE DIPLOMACY The Paris Accord: An Experiment in Polylateralism